Slitter knife advance unit and method of use
AssigneePhilip Morris Incorporated
InventorMartin T. Garthaffner
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Abstract
A method and apparatus are disclosed for severing or otherwise cutting cigarette filters, tobacco rods and the like. According to the invention, a slitter knife is maintained in whetting engagement with a whetting mechanism, so that the slitter knife never becomes dull. This is preferably achieved by mounting the slitter knife on a pivotable carriage and providing an automatic control system which pivots the slitter knife to maintain it in the desired engagement with the whetter. A feedback system can be included, to monitor the sharpness of the slitter knife and to indicate when adjustment of the slitter knife position is required.
Claims13
An apparatus for cutting a rod-shaped article such as a tobacco rod or a filter plug rod, said apparatus comprising:
- a rotatable slitter knife;
- means for supporting a rod-shaped article at a predetermined position to be cut by said slitter knife;
- whetter means adjacent said slitter knife for whetting said slitter disc while said slitter knife rotates;
- and
- adjustment means for automatically adjusting the position of said slitter knife to maintain it in whetting engagement with said whetter means.
A method for cutting rod-shaped articles such as filter plug rods, comprising the steps of supporting a rod-shaped article at a predetermined position to be cut, rotating a knife to cut said article supported at said predetermined position, and maintaining said knife in whetting engagement with a whetting device to keep said knife sharp, by means of moving said knife toward said whetting device and toward said predetermined position to maintain said whetting engagement as said knife cuts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.